1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LED package, and more particularly to an LED package, in which an anode and a cathode of each of LEDs provided in an even (2n) number are electrically connected to an anode of a neighboring LED and a cathode of another neighboring LED, thereby individually operating each of the LEDs provided in the even (2n) number and allowing characteristics of each of the LEDs to be easily tested.
2. Description of the Related Art
LED displays, which serve as media for communicating information, were originally developed to provide character or numerical information, and are being developed now to provide moving pictures, such as various CF images, graphics and video pictures. Further, the LED displays have progressed from displaying a limited range of visible colors by means of red and yellowish green LEDs to displaying the full range of visible colors including red, yellowish green and blue colors by means of a GaN-based high-luminance blue LED, a pure green LED and an ultraviolet LED.
Since the LED displays are being developed to display the full range of visible colors with high quality, there has now been proposed an outdoor LED display having a large size of 100 inches or more. Such an outdoor LED display is combined with a computer, thus serving as the newest image display media, which upgrades the level of commercial advertisements and displays various picture information including news in real-time. Particularly, a flash manufactured using an LED is mounted on a portable telephone terminal so that a user of the portable telephone terminal provided with a small-sized camera installed therein can take a picture even at night. An LED package, which is manufactured by assembling a plurality of LEDs into one unit, is used as the above flash mounted on the portable telephone terminal.
FIG. 1a is a circuit diagram illustrating a connection structure between LEDs used in a conventional LED package. As shown in FIG. 1a, a conventional LED package 11 comprises four LEDs 12, 13, 14 and 15, in which the two LEDs 12 and 13 are connected in parallel and the two LEDs 14 and 15 are connected in parallel. Accordingly, the conventional LED package 11 requires four terminals 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d. 
Generally, a producer of LED packages tests characteristics of a produced LED package, such as driving voltage, voltage, luminance, etc., so as to provide information regarding the characteristics of the LED package. Such a test procedure includes a step of testing electrical characteristics of respective LEDs by applying voltage to each of the terminals of the LED package so as to obtain characteristics of the respective LEDs used in the LED package.
During the above test procedure, the LED package 11 as shown in FIG. 1a, comprising four LEDs 12, 13, 14 and 15, in which the two LEDs 12 and 13 are connected in parallel and the two LEDs 14 and 15 are connected in parallel, causes a difficulty in obtaining characteristics of each of the respective LEDs 12, 13, 14 and 15. Accordingly, in case that one of the four LEDs 12, 13, 14 and 15 fails, it is not easy to detect the failure of one LED through an electrical test. For example, in case that the LED 14 in FIG. 1a fails, a producer applies voltage to the terminals 11a and 11b, and to the terminals 11c and 11d, thereby testing electrical characteristic of the LED package 10. Here, since the LEDs 14 and 15 are connected in parallel, the electrical characteristics between the terminals 11c and 11d when the LED 14 has failed are the same as the electrical characteristics between the terminals 11c and 11d when the LED 14 has not failed, i.e., when the LED 14 is in a normal state. Accordingly, the producer cannot detect the failure of the LED 14 through the electrical test, thus being incapable of providing precise characteristics of the LED package 10 to consumers.
FIG. 1b is a circuit diagram illustrating a connection structure between LEDs used in another conventional LED package. As shown in FIG. 1b, a conventional LED package 21 comprises three LEDs 22, 23 and 24, each of which has both ends connected to different terminals. That is, both ends of the LED 22 are respectively connected to terminals 21a and 21b, both ends of the LED 23 are respectively connected to terminals 21c and 21d, and both ends of the LED 24 are respectively connected to terminals 21e and 21f. The conventional LED package 21 comprises the three LEDs 22, 23 and 24, each of which has both ends connected to different two terminals, thus not causing a difficulty in obtaining characteristics of each of the respective LEDs 22, 23 and 24 differently from the earlier-described conventional LED package 11. However, the conventional LED package 21 causes a difficulty in testing a large number of the terminals of the LEDs to the producer. Particularly, since the number of the terminals in the connection structure of-the conventional LED package 21 in FIG. 1b is twice as many as that of the terminals in the connection structure of the conventional LED package 11 in FIG. 1a, the test procedure of the conventional LED package 21 is complicated and time taken for testing the conventional LED package 21 is increased compared to the conventional LED package 11. Further, since external electrode being equal in number to that of the terminals are installed outside the LED package 21, the conventional LED package 21 is disadvantageous in that the required number of the external electrodes is increased and it is difficult to miniaturize the LED package 21.
Accordingly, there is required a novel LED package, in which electrical characteristics of each of respective LEDs are easily tested and light emitting efficiency is improved by a connection structure between the LEDs.